But in new interview, the star, 30, opens up about one of the most tragic times in her life: when her mother Darnell Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and 7-year-old nephew Julian King were murdered in 2008.

"That's one of the things that saved my life, because I could have been home with my mom then," Hudson says in Ebony's November/December issue. "He wanted me to come out to Florida with him instead of going to Chicago."

"I flew out to see him; that's why I'm still here. I've never said that before, and I can't believe I just said that now. But I didn't know. He was just like, 'I'm going to this wrestling thing, and it's in Tampa. I'm going out there now, so you can come out there and see me versus going home.' "